


When Things Don't Go Swimmingly

by JewelyDooley



Category: Voltron - Fandom, Voltron: Legendary Defender, Voltron: Lion Voltron, Voltron: Vehicle Voltron
Genre: Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Boys In Love, Cuban Lance (Voltron), Declarations Of Love, Dorks in Love, Emo, Emotional, Emotional Baggage, Emotional Constipation, Emotional Hurt, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotionally Repressed, Emotions, Established Keith/Lance (Voltron), Eventual Keith/Lance (Voltron), Falling In Love, First Love, Friendship/Love, Gay Keith (Voltron), Homesick Lance (Voltron), How Do I Tag, Hurt Keith (Voltron), Hurt Lance (Voltron), I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I accidentally deleted all my tags before so now i have to write them all again, Idiots in Love, Insecure Lance (Voltron), Keith (Voltron) Angst, Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, Keith (Voltron) is a Mess, Keith/Lance (Voltron) Angst, Keith/Lance (Voltron) Fluff, Keith/Lance (Voltron)-centric, Keith/Lance - Freeform, Lance (Voltron) Angst, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, Love, Love Confessions, Love at First Sight, M/M, Oblivious Keith (Voltron), Oblivious Lance (Voltron), Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Keith/Lance (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Slow Burn Keith/Lance (Voltron), Socially Awkward Keith (Voltron), Soft Keith/Lance (Voltron), These boys are utter idiots, True Love, Unresolved Emotional Tension, i s2g if these boys had any sort of brain they would notice how much they love each other, lance/keith - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-16
Updated: 2019-01-04
Packaged: 2019-09-20 05:54:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17016981
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JewelyDooley/pseuds/JewelyDooley
Summary: “Lance, look!” Keith grinned, “Look, I’m not scared at all!”Lance stayed silent, his eyes shining in the orange glow of the sunset, a soft smile playing on his lips.“Lance, aren’t you proud? Look!” Keith repeated, running his hand along the surface of the water before splashing it.“I’m very proud Keith,” Lance took a step closer to Keith, he cupped the side of Keith’s face, pulling it gently towards him.“Lance, what are you- mrumph!” Keith was cut off by Lance’s lips being pressed to his. His eyes fluttered shut and his body froze instinctively.~~~When two pining boys are stuck on an island together, there is really only one outcome.





	1. Don't Breathe Water It'll Kill You

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for not posting this before season eight dropped,  
> what a shitshow amiright? Sure there were a few good things (Pidge melted my heart) but they did Lance so dirty.
> 
> anyway.. heres a book ive been meaning to post for like a month, its my first longer novel, so far it has like 10000 words which im very proud of. please excuse my earlier writing though, it isnt the best. Also, this is like a first draft, it will be edited and fixed up a bit later on, please stick around for it! I am v proud and would love some feedback! I also need that validation baby!! Hit me up with those kudos and comments if you enjoyed, i really want to know what people think of my work!
> 
> So, here goes nothing then,,,

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seriously though, don't breathe water.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go 
> 
> chapter number one of this bad boy. enjoy, and tell me if you do in the comments and kudos!
> 
> And if it's your birthday random person reading this, happy birthday, I hope you get birthday presents AND Christmas presents

If there were ever an important time to know how to swim, now was it.

Keith gasped as another wave washed over him, the weight of his armour dragging him deeper into the depths of the ocean. He kicked his legs furiously, survival instincts kicking in, trying desperately to keep him alive. His hands grasped at the water, finding nothing to hold onto. The rain pounded around him, crashing into the grey water, adding only to the cacophony of splashing surrounding him.

“Help! _Please_!” Keith yelled, out of breath from the last wave. Unfortunately for him at that exact moment another wave came down and got him in the mouth. Keith gagged from the water, coughing and spluttering to save his lungs from the water. The wave left the horrible taste of salt burning his nose and tongue.

It’s not that Keith didn’t know _how_ to swim. It’s just that he was positively _terrible_ at it. Keith wasn’t one to reveal his weaknesses willy-nilly, so when the other Paladins opened up about their flaws, Keith made up some bullshit about heights. He didn’t want the rest of the team to think he was (in any way) weak or scared. The exercise however was supposed to let everyone work on their fears and flaws until they no longer bothered them.

 Hunk trained in hand-to-hand combat until he could face a Galra soldier no problem. Keith remembered how huge his smile was when he finally beat the gladiator on one of the higher settings.

Pidge’s problem was a little more difficult. She was strong, no doubt, but her stamina was utter shit. So she trained with Hunk, working her body a little more every day until she could run twenty laps and not lose her breath.

Shiro’s wasn’t like the other two’s. He didn’t face any physical challenge, but rather a mental challenge. After losing someone very important to him, he never knew how to deal with it, so he never did. Bottling it up and locking it in a safe, only to be opened in the late hours of the night, when no one was watching. Coran found some research on the human brain, and how to deal with loss, and taught Shiro a few valuable things to help him. Shiro was finally able to let go of his past pain.

Lance’s was a strange one. Although it was alike to Shiro’s, it was slightly different. He was missing someone, that someone being his entire family. It pained him greatly to acknowledge that his whole family thought him dead, and that he will probably never see them again. Although Lance and Keith were very different, they did have some things in common, one thing being that they were both reluctant as hell to reveal any sort of weakness. They had to drag it out of Lance, but he finally gave up his walls and admitted he was feeling shitty. He attended some sessions with Coran just like Shiro did.

Keith knew that the rest of the team didn’t buy his bullshit about heights. It was easy to see the lack of fear on his face when he made it to the top of the climbing wall set out for him. Pidge was to first to suspect it of course, putting her hands on her hips and biting her bottom lip in suspicion. After her initial accusation (which Keith obviously denied) her suspicion spread to the rest of the team. They all would be having a normal conversation with him but then start interrogating him about his fears. So far Keith had dodged these questions.

But he wouldn’t be able to for much longer.

Keith dragged in a breath, tilting his head back as far as it would go, trying to keep at least his head out of the water. He stared up at the sky. Giant, dark grey clouds covered every visible inch of it, sending down an ocean’s worth of rain. Oh how badly Keith wished he could contact the team. After his lion has gone down in the battle, the only way for Keith to stay alive was to eject himself from Red and let her plummet to the ground. Keith knew he wouldn’t survive the impact if he landed on the ground, so he made the logical decision to take his chances with the ocean. He curled into a ball as he hit the water in a way that would have broken his legs had he not been wearing armour.

This was after only a few minutes of struggling. His limbs were tiring fast. Every movement was an effort. The initial shock after impact had worn off, leaving him with only his wits. Keith took a ragged breath, gasping as he felt himself sink lower into the water. Panic raced through him and he struggled harder. He took one last breath before he sunk beneath the water. He kicked his legs harder. No use. No matter what he seemed to do, he just kept sinking. Keith blindly thrashed around, his eyes closed from the water, until he lost his sense of direction. His heart pounded as the pressure increased in his ears as he sunk lower.

This was not how he was going to die. Or if it was, Keith was not going to die blind.

In a final attempt to say _suck it_ to the water so intent on drowning him he forced himself to open his eyes. His hair floated around him in locks of black, the surface of the water getting further away. It glimmered at him as if it were saying _fuck you_. Keith ignored the burning sensation that crossed his eyes. He used his arms and legs to push himself closer to the surface. All he could think about was how stupid he was to not open up to the team. Had he displayed his weakness, he could have survived this. Keith cursed himself silently, not daring to open his mouth underwater. _Stupid him, being so fucking emo. Couldn’t he open up to his friends like every other normal person_?

Keith breached the surface of the water. He immediately sucked in a large breath. Gulping down the air, Keith let his body relax. He took the time to recall any sort of information on swimming his brain might have retained. Somewhere in the murky depths of his brain he remembered something about how to float. He grimaced as he thought hard and desperately to recall what it was. Something about relaxing and lying on your back. Yes, that was it. Let all your limbs relax and lay on the water as if it were a bed. Keith hesitantly let his limbs float up to the surface of the water.

He laid there for a countless amount of time. A couple of times he almost fell asleep, but was always quickly awoken by the large waves lifting him and the rain splattering on his face and entire body. It made a small tapping noise every time it hit somewhere on his armour. Eventually Keith did fall asleep. Such hard effort had not only kept him alive, but also exhausted him. He drifted off, following the currents of the ocean.


	2. So Maybe He Didn't Die Last Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When you wash up on an island on an unfamiliar planet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dont mind me, hitting ya'll with two chapter in one day,
> 
> enjoy you greedy bastards :D

The taste of sand and salt is not a comforting thing to wake up to.

Keith was lying face down in the sand of what must have been a beach. He used his arms to push his torso up, they shook with the effort. He dragged his body into the standing position, swaying slightly. The first thing he did was strip off. He pulled off each of the heavy duty pieces of metal stuck to him, leaving him in only in his black morph suit. After ridding himself of the heavy pieces of armour, Keith threw up. Water-y sick came and mixed in with the ocean. Keith wiped his mouth.

The next few hours were spent exploring. The mysterious island that he had landed on was filled with creatures Keith had never seen or even heard about. Perhaps he should listen to the Princess more, she did often tell interesting facts about planets they had never been on. There were large plants that resembled trees, with large pink spheres on them, which could have been fruit. Keith went and snapped one of the trees (?) pointy branches off. It looked sharp enough to be used as a weapon.

Hopefully he didn’t have to use it.

Keith pushed some sort of large flora out of his way as he walked deeper into the jungle. Many things skittered around in his peripheral vision, just enough to catch his eye, but not enough to suggest a problem. Sometimes Keith would catch a glance of a pair of fluorescent green eyes. He didn’t think anything of it.

After exploring the jungle, Keith made his way back to the beach, his arms full of things he thought might be edible or useful. The climate was hot, two suns were in the sky, extremely close to each other, for stars at least. If Pidge were here she would say something about how the stars would collide at some point and make a supermassive black hole or something. Keith felt a pang in his heart. He missed the team dearly already. Who knew how long Keith had blacked out for? Certainly not Keith. Keith found the beach and dumped his armful in a pile next to his drying uniform. He plonked himself cross legged next to it. He put his head in his hands and took a few deep breaths to stabilise himself. He couldn’t break down yet, he needed a fire to survive the approaching night-time.

Keith made a pile of leaves and other various burnable plant matter to create his fire. He tried his best to light it with two rocks that he had found. Unfortunately Keith was not a master of making two rocks spark, and instead used the one non-broken side of his jet-pack to light it. He watched the fire dance as the two suns began to set. The grey sky was painted with streaks of orange and red. Keith imagined the best sunset he had ever seen on earth, and doubled it. Only then could he measure its beauty. Keith shuffled on his bed of left-over leaves. Hopefully there was nothing too dangerous during the night-time. And if there was, Keith has his sharp stick.

Keith took what felt like his first breath since he had been there.

Too bad it was interrupted.

“HHHEeeeeyyyYAAAA,” screamed a voice from the jungles border, its owner’s silhouette charging at Keith.

Keith jumped to his feet immediately, abandoning any sort of calm that may have embraced him. He lifted his stick like a spear and screamed right back at them. This took them in surprise. They certainly weren’t expecting their prey to scream back.

Keith closed one eye and aimed the spear at the moving target. He exhaled as he threw it with all his might. The silhouette barely dodged it.

“Oh shit,” they said as they stumbled away from the landing sight of the spear, clearly trying to regain balance. Keith immediately recognised the voice.

“Lance?”

“Keith?!”

The silhouette moved into the light of the fire and sunset. Lance stood there, staring at Keith with a look of wonder on his face, in his morph suit, just like Keith.

“No fucking way,” Lance shouted, running to Keith and wrapping his arms around him impulsively. Keith tentatively moved his arms around Lance’s waist as Lance held his top half. They hugged for a few seconds before Lance pulled away, keeping his hands on Keith’s shoulders though. Lance smiled directly at Keith, as if he were the best thing in the world. Suddenly his face dropped.

“You almost fucking killed me!” Lance moved to grip Keith’s biceps instead. He squeezed Keith as if to tell him how insane he was for trying to kill him.

Keith winced, rubbing the back of his neck, “Yeah. . . Sorry about that.”

Lance just shook his head and grinned, dropping his hands. “Don’t worry, I would have done the same, but by god, how on Earth did you learn how to throw a spear like that?”

Keith chuckled, blushing slightly at the compliment, “Natural instinct?”

“ _Sure_. Anyway, do you have shelter?” Lance asked, putting a hand on his hip.

“Uh, kind of,” Keith said gesturing to his fading campfire and leaf bed.

“That’s your shelter? Jesus. Here, gather your things. Come stay by my fire.” Lance offered, pretty much demanding he follow.

Keith nodded and picked up his armour. He splashed water on what was left of his fire, and followed Lance through the dark jungle. The moonlight shone through the canopy of leaves. The sky (which was once covered head to toe in grey clouds) was visible, lit up by the many stars above. Keith smiled, overwhelmed with the fact that maybe, just maybe, they had a chance of getting back home. Every step he took had a little bounce in it. He watched as Lance pushed his way through the leaves as if he were following an invisible path. A question bubbled in the back of Keith’s mind.

“How long have you been on this island?” Keith questioned, trying to estimate how long he had been floating around for.

Lance hummed at the question, not bothering to turn around to face Keith to answer him, “Around four days? I kind of lost track of time.” He pushed one particularly large leaf out of his way, bending it in front of him. When he let it go, it came right back around and smacked Keith right in the face.

“Ow!” Keith said angrily, more of a way to tell Lance off than to actually express pain.

“Oh, sorry.” Lance said absent-mindedly, focusing mainly on finding his way through the Jungle.

Keith shook his head and continued to take in the scenery. Every colourful piece of flora was tinted a light blue. Keith couldn’t help but notice how Lance looked with his bulky amour off. His tanned face was glowing in the moonlight, his hair shaggy yet still styled. Apparently even when you’re stuck on an island in the middle of nowhere on an unfamiliar planet, one must still keep up appearances. Keith hated how he made looking so perfect seem effortless. He watched as Lance gracefully stretched to reach the brim of the jungle and step over a fallen tree. Keith followed him with his eyes and his body.

They reached Lance’s campsite. A small fire sat in the middle, a pile of stones surrounding it making it a fire pit. A simple text was erected, leaves woven together in a simple pattern held up by some of the branches that Keith had been using as a spear. Like Keith, Lance had disregarded his amour as useless weight and dumped it in a pile next to his tent. Keith placed his pile next to Lance’s, again, watching Lance move comfortably around his small camp. Keith compared this camp to his own. He was not sure there was much of a difference.

“I know my camp isn’t much better, but at least I have a tent,” Lance said, reading Keith’s mind, “You won’t get completely sopping tonight at least.” Lance bent over the fire pit and started it, Keith (who was behind Lance at the time) took his time to survey Lance’s (uh-hm) _backside_. Let’s just say he had quite a good view, if Keith’s blush was anything to go by.

Ever since they had first met at the Garrison, Keith had had a crush on the tanned boy. Everything, from the way he flew, to the way he laughed with his friends, had Keith swooning. Luckily for him (or unluckily) Lance was not the most observant, and never picked up on Keith’s staring and stuttering. This crush continued right through their time as Paladins as well. Their rooms were only a few steps away. How’s it Keith fault if he imagined Lance bridging that gap, coming into his room, pushing him against the wall and-

Keith yanked his mind out of the gutter before things went too downhill.

Lance stood up, wiping his forehead, a small flame catching the rest of the leaves and eventually the wood. He turned around and smiled at Keith, it was simply amazing how Lance could look as amazing as he did in the moonlight in the firelight.

“Do you want anything to eat?” Lance asked, “I have a few small edible fruits left from Lunch, if you want.”

Keith smiled gratefully, “That would be great thanks.”

“Hey now no problem, take a seat, let me just go get them.”

Keith gently lowered himself to the ground, taking his time to let his sore limbs adjust to the new surroundings. He finally took that deep breath he had been craving. All was well. He had found Lance, food was on the way, and he had a place to sleep. Everything would be okay.

Lance reappeared, this time carrying an armful of assorted fruits. Keith took another deep breath as he accepted something that looked strangely like an orange. Lance plopped himself right next to Keith, their knees touching. He peeled the skin and bit into it, not knowing how starving he was after a whole few days without food. His mouth was filled with juice from the fruit, which, weirdly, tasted like strawberries. Keith’s mouth felt confused.

Lance laughed at the confused look on Keith’s face, biting into one himself. They ate in silence, staring at the fire, which danced ever so gracefully in the pit, stealing glances at each other when they thought the other wasn’t looking. Eventually they made eye contact, Keith looking away in fluster, while Lance just smiled and laughed at his antics, oblivious to Keith’s obvious crush.

Eventually they packed up for the night. Lance retreated to the tent, beckoning an awkward Keith to follow. They both slid into the tent at the same time. It was not tall enough for them to sit up in, it was made purely to keep the rain off when sleeping. Keith laid facing Lance’s back, he watched as the muscles in his back expanded and contracted, slowing down as he fell asleep. Keith took a deep breath as he laid on the large leaf beneath him. He felt exposed without any blankets on him and the hot humid climate of this planet didn’t make things any better. His face was flushed as he was a mere few centimetres away from his crush and in his _bed_. It took him way longer than usual to fall asleep.


	3. Sometime's It's Best To Not Go Alone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An attack

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello, here's your chapter, please enjoy it, i am tired :)

When he awoke all he could think about was how hot he was.

Keith groaned as he woke up to the hot early morning sun. For some reason it felt ten times brighter and warmer than it was yesterday. He felt like he was wrapped in a large warm protective blanket. He snuggled back trying to capture a bit more sun on his back, only to find an actual solid warm being there. Keith’s eyes shot open. What he thought was the sun warming his back was actually a sleeping Lance with an arm thrown over him, holding him close. Keith felt his whole body heat up. Here he was, cuddling with his crush, on a planet they had little to no hope escaping from, with him _alone_.

Keith almost exploded.

All the commotion that Keith had been going through had been enough to wake Lance up. He yawned sleepily, before tightening his grip on Keith, pulling him closer. Keith was officially dead. Surely Lance was dreaming or something and didn’t have full control over his body. That had to be it. There was no way awake and sober Lance would ever willing cuddle Keith like _this_. They’ve had their fair share of hugs sure, but they had never lain together, back-to-chest, legs entwined. The thought alone was enough to make Keith want to shout and melt.

Lance stirred.

Keith froze. His whole body stiff. Lance yawned and slowly let himself wake up to the morning sun. He blinked a few times before realizing what his situation was. He froze up just as badly as Keith did, before sitting up making eye contact with Keith. They had a wordless conversation. One that seemed to get Lance’s message of _I’m so sorry I molested you in my sleep please don’t hate me_. Keith just looked at him with wide eyes and a flushed face. Usually he could control is expressions better but he usually didn’t _have_ to this early in the morning.

“Um,” Lance started, “Sorry.”

“S’kay,” Keith mumbled, sitting up as he did so, “Breakfast?”

Lance laughed, any sort of tension that they has had beforehand shed, “Yeah, yeah. Can you get the fire going, I’m going to grab something we can roast?”

Keith rubbed his eyes and yawned before responding, “Yeah. Go now, get food.”

Lance left and Keith crawled out of their tent. The fresh smell of the ocean cleared his senses with every breath, so he took a deep breath. Keith had only ever been to the beach twice back on Earth. Once was when he was very young so he couldn’t really remember it, but the second time was just before he joined the Garrison, and it was amazing. The waves were almost non-existent and the sun was glinting off of the ocean, it looked like someone had sprinkled an aeroplanes worth of glitter on the surface. Keith splashed around in it while Shiro watched from the sand. Keith always stayed within standing depth, not wanting to accidently down. Shiro gasped as Keith kicked the water, making it rain down in a thousand droplets on him. The book he was reading getting splash marks all over it.

“That’s it,” Shiro had said, smacking his book into Adam who was completely dry next to him, “My turn.” Shiro stripped down to his shorts and run after Keith into the water. Keith decided to hold his ground and go down with a fight, he splashed as much water as he could at Shiro, getting him soaking wet before he was even in up to his waist. Shiro just smirked, charging faster at Keith, being the more confident in the water out of the two. When he was within a metre of Keith he ducked beneath the water, successfully hiding from Keith, who had rightful decided it was the best time to run.

“Oh shit,” Keith muttered as he sprinted as fast as he could in the water, but Shiro was faster. Shiro popped up in front of him –scaring the shit out of him- and splashed him with as much water as he physically could. Keith was drenched. Shiro laughed and eventually Keith joined in.

Keith looked back at this memory fondly. It was the first time he and Shiro had really bonded. He went back to lighting the fire, using the same method he used before. Apparently Lance had something worth lighting the fire for on a hot day like this. As much of the heat Lance had been, the sun was still a major contributing factor to today’s heat. The climate on this planet was very humid, something which Keith was less than pleased about. There’s nothing nice about being sweaty and sunburnt –something which Keith was very sure he was becoming-. Keith stoked the fire a few more times to really get the heat up. He stood up straight and wiped the sweat from his brow.

“Keith? Is the fire ready?” Lance called, immerging from the jungle, “I think I have something we can cook?”

Keith took the dead animal from Lance’s hands and inspected it. It looked like a cross between a possum and a hairless cat.

“Seems fine, I’ll prepare it.” Keith offered, knowing that Lance didn’t have the stomach for such a task.

“Sounds good,” Lance said gratefully. He looked relieved.

Lance walked off to check something out at the tent while Keith got to work. It was a gruesome task, but an important one none the less. Once he was done, he gave the carcass to Lance, who seemed more than ready to season and prepare it.

“Now while you were doing _that_ ,” Lance said, nodding his head to the pile of bloodied guts further down the beach, “I was getting something to season this bad boy.” Lance grinned widely, “Do you prefer rosemary on your roasts or thyme. I found some plants that resembled both, but I-”

 

“Do what you would like the most,” Keith cut him off. Keith had no idea how to cook a roast and wasn’t really interested.

“Rosemary it is,” Lance smiled. That smile. It made Keith melt. Internally of course. He couldn’t let such a simple thing force him to show weakness. He was a force to be reckoned with, a war-hardened soldier, not a weak boy with a crush. Lance seemed a little disappointed when Keith didn’t return his smile. His smile dropped for a second before bouncing back. He gave a little shrug and got back to work. Keith cursed internally _. Fucking emo fuck, sweet Jesus why did this always happen_?

Keith turned around. He needed to find something useful to do. If this were a normal day in the castle, he would probably be training or helping Hunk out in the kitchen. Neither of which were possible now. Keith would have to improvise. Sit-ups were improbable, sand in unsavoury places. Push-ups were difficult, again from the sand. Perhaps he could work on his hunting skills? There were plenty of strange animals in this forest that Keith could discover . . . and kill. Keith settled on that, wandering into the jungle in the search for a more suitable weapon.

With a small search of the outer most layer of the jungle –where the light continued to shine through the density of the canopy-, he found a sharp rock and a lightweight, yet strong log of wood. He returned back to the campsite and sat down next to the fire Lance was cooking at. He began using is rock to carve the log to make it sharper. The rock itself could have been useful but Keith was used to a much longer weapon, like a sword, so Keith -being the emo fuck that could show no weakness that he was-  decided that carving his own sword would have been easier than learning how to fight with a rock. He sharpened out the tip, tapering it the closer to the handle it was. He tossed the scraps into the fire that Lance was cooking on the other side of. Lance glanced up at the movement. When he was cooking, Lance was in a trance. He focused on one thing and one thing only. It was almost mesmerising to watch him work, how he rhythmically cut things into pieces and checked how the salt water he was bubbling the salt out of was going. Keith often caught himself slowing down on his carving and staring at Lance. He snapped himself out of it and got back to work.

Just when he had finished carving, Lance called him for breakfast. Only then did Keith realize how hungry he was. His nose had just registered how amazing Lance’s meal smelt, making his stomach grumble. He sniffed the air as Lance brought a leaf (the type of one he had used to make their bed) with his meal on top of it. Lance chuckled at Keith’s antics and went to get his own leaf. They sat down, facing each other.

“Nice to see you did nothing useful yet,” Lance joked, using his fingers to scoop up the first bite of his meal.

Keith glared at him playfully, “I’ll have you know making a weapon is a very useful task to be doing.”

“Uh huh sure.”

“Oh, like you were doing anything better.”

“So you don’t think eating is important?” Lance stared Keith down pursing his lips.

Keith growled, knowing he’d lost this battle, “Yeah well, I bet I’ll be more productive than you when the suns go down!”

“Oh, you’re so on Kogane!” Lance scoffed, stuffing his face full of the rest of his breakfast, so he could begin being productive before Keith.

“When the suns set, this bet ends” Keith said, following in Lance’s footsteps and shoving the rest of his breakfast down his throat.

“Whoever has contributed into making this camp better wins.”

“Deal,” They shook hands.

Lance immediately bolted into the jungle, leaving Keith standing there, with a mouthful of breakfast. He heard a large thud on the ground, followed by a string of curse words. He chuckled and carefully made his way into the jungle, makeshift dagger in hand. The path into the jungle was pretty much non-existent. The only thing making it was the rows of crushed plants that both Keith and Lance had left behind. Keith, unlike Lance was quiet on his trip into the jungle, for he knew there could be dangers lurking around every corner. He smelt the flora around him, hoping for a whiff of something that vaguely resembled something Earth-like. All he could smell was a sickly sweet plant that mixed in horrendously with the stench of a rotting corpse somewhere nearby. He continued further into the jungle, each step leading him away from the safety of their camp. An eerie silence surrounded him.

 It just wasn’t natural.

If he wanted to beat Lance he would need an end goal. Lance was probably going to do something materialistic, like built up the fire or something. Keith should do something a little more useful, like collect resources. Heaven knew they needed it. So that’s exactly what he did. He looked around for more of the animals that Lance had snatched up for breakfast. A good haul of those could last them a few days. If Lance cared so much about breakfast, then breakfast Keith would bring.

 He stopped walking for a second, not realizing that he had stopped paying attention to where he was going. A certain darkness surrounded him. The foliage of the plants was so thick that it blocked out almost all sunlight, spare the few strands that just managed to push their way in. He waited until his eyes adjusted to the darkness, then looked around. The first thing he laid eyes on was a pair of glowing green eyes. He blinked twice –just to make sure it wasn’t a trick of the light- then looked around to the other pairs of eyes, all staring at him. Panic flared in him. Strange creatures on an alien planet, could be friendly, right? His instincts told him they were not. He readied himself for an attack, if killed these creatures could be food. One of them pounced, adrenaline pounded through Keith’s vein as he struck, quick as lightning, into the side of this creature. It howled in pain, trying desperately to bite Keith. Keith quickly removed the knife. He glanced quickly at it before the other creatures attacked too. It had glowing green eyes, and muddy lime fur, if Keith had known any better he would have called it a dog. At least he knew what they looked like now. Another one pounced, its jaw wide open, displaying a vast collecting of teeth. Keith dodged it, moving to its left. He used the momentum of its leap against it, by ramming his knife into it when it landed. Not being able to turn fast enough is what gave Keith the upper hand. The others scattered.

Keith took a deep breath, only then realising his mistake. It was these creatures that were the horrible smell from before. Once his adrenaline had worn off, he was hit with the smell like a brick. He picked up their corpses and swung them over his shoulder. Keith had been through worse, he could tough it out against a bad smell.

Too bad things were about to get much worse than just a bad smell.

A loud blood-curdling scream broke the eerie silence of the jungle. Keith’s head snapped to it, his feet already dragging him in the direction of it.

“Lance!” He called, almost screaming as loud as the man himself.

“Lance! Where are you?!” Keith yelled into the now silent jungle.

“Keith! I’m here!”

Keith broke in-between two tightly intermittent trees, to reveal a Lance, being cornered by five of the creatures Keith had just killed. Lance was carrying a large bundle of sticks and leaves, and had no way to defend himself, and by the looks of things, he already had a large injury on his arm. Keith dropped the two he had killed, and growled at them. All five of their heads snapped to Keith, now noticing the bigger threat. They too growled, though at a much higher pitch. One of them went back to Lance, prowling closer, its jaw opening wider than either Lance of Keith would have thought possible. Keith charged. He screamed as he slashed his knife wildly at the animals. They all pounced on him, eager to protect what looked like their leader, the one which now had a large gash that stretched from its ear to its stomach. Keith couldn’t help but feel proud, in a sick and twisted sort of way. They tore at him, but he tore back. His vision was going black around the edges, as body after body was flung at him. Each of his slashes was calculated, he aimed for the kill. As much as he hated these creatures, he didn’t think anyone deserved a painful death.

Eventually, only one of them remained. It had the brain to stay back as its comrades had been brutally slaughtered. Keith circled it, never losing eye-contact. From his side Keith heard a whimper. Lance. Within the second that Keith had turned his head to look at Lance, it had pounced. A huge bite to Keith’s calf. Keith screamed out in pain. It locked on and started trying to twist Keith’s calf off. Blinded by the pain, Keith couldn’t do anything. A blur went past him, and suddenly the pressure of the creature on him was released. Keith had a moment to see the smiling face of Lance before he dropped. He hit the ground with a thud. His leg didn’t have the strength to hold him up. The world spun around him, the trees twisted in ways that a tree should probably not be doing. The edges of the world were going black.

“Lance,” Keith called, his voice quiet, “Can you please tell the world to stop spinning for one god dammed second, I’m trying to think!”

Lance just looked down at him for a moment, before using his good arm to lift Keith back into a standing position. He hooked his arm under Keith’s and began walking them back to safety. All the while whispering comforting things to Keith, who was losing blood at an extraordinary rate. A few small trips over some branches and they were back at the beach. Lance laid Keith down (at least, what Keith thought was down, everything was spinning and it was kind of hard to tell at that point in time). The black edges around his vision were closing in, everything was fuzzy and only the soft sound of Lance calling his name was what kept him awake for a few minutes.

Everything went black.


End file.
